Night fell upon the group and they turned in. The matter of the bomb was thought to have been settled. Gremlin would try to either find or make a detonator for the device and turn it into a particularly convenient weapon against anything they encountered, living or dead. However, as the group fell to sleep, a figure was seen outside the bus. Dressed in crudely fashion desert gear, the figure walked around to the front of the vehicle and propped open the hood. Their fingers worked quickly on the device, tearing open the thin packaging and unscrewing the case. The device was simple enough, an ignition system comprised of an incendiary fuse and a radio was fed into a large flask of jet fuel. The tinkering shadow seemed dissatisfied with the device however. ?The Hegemon knows how to keep his men in line. This thing could have sent any mutinous crew up in flames.?
Carefully prying the fuse from the device. The mechanic unwound some of the tape holding the device together. They slid under the bus and crawled towards the fuel tank. A scrap of salvaged duct-tape held the fuse firmly on the bottom of the tank. ?Once they get that engine revved up, the fuse will ignite and burn through the thin metal of the tank, then ?KABOOM!?, no more damn survivors. Maybe then I can focus on what really matters. One way or another, that Hegemon is going to win, and I?d better be on his good side.?
The killer returned to the bus and fell asleep near the other passengers.
When morning finally came, Gremlin did a final inspection of the bus. The bomb was nowhere to be found. He reasoned it must have degraded and fell apart. The other survivors gathered around the bus while taking a break from their scavenging to watch Gremlin bring the beast to life. The killer watched this with a disappointed grin. ?Ah well, one?s better than none.? they thought. Gremlin finished hotwiring the vehicle and the engine began to hum. He triumphantly honked the horn and shifted into first gear. The bus lumbered forwards in a victory lap, sputtering around the survivors. As he began to turn, the bus exploded in a brilliant orange blossom. Fuel covered shards of metal and glass were sent streaming through the air. Rain ducked as a scrap of the steering column streaked past his head. The survivors looked on in terror as the bus continued to roll along. A roughly humanoid shape now lolled outside the window, its features bloodied and burnt. Now it seemed they were truly alone in the desert
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Now you've got to walk if you want to survive. Your only hope is to make it to Vegas before you all starve to death. Oh, and you might want to find out who killed your beloved Gremlin. That's a bit important too.
